Chapter Fifteen

"This dress is too small," Funke grumbled from the corner of the room and I looked up at her. she was wiggling her waist so much, the dress stuck under her hips.

"Then take it off," I shrugged and returned my gaze back to my computer. "They'll take your measurements again and adjust the dress."

I heard struggling in the background before Funke appeared beside me on the couch. We were at my house and since she hasn't been around since all this while the bridesmaid's had been going for measurements and having their dresses sewn, Funke simply sent her measurements and we got the tailor sew it. But as everyone knew, something would definitely go wrong and the dress would have to go back to the tailor and Funke re-measured.

The tailor dropped the dress at my house in the morning and when I got back from work, Funke tried it on.  I wasn't surprised when the dress couldn't go past her hips.

"Did you add weight?" I asked, still not looking up.

"Maybe just a little but it shouldn't be that much that I wouldn't be able to fit into the dress at all. the tailor is wack." I could imagine her rolling her eyes. "What are you doing?" she reached for my laptop, causing me to look up at her.

"It's work Funke, that thing you do from Monday to Friday from eight to four." I pulled the laptop from her grip, settling it properly on the pillow I placed on my laps.

She scoffed, "you work too much, you know that right?"

"It's my only escape from my reality," I shrugged and went back to typing.

"You shouldn't have to escape from your reality, live it."

"It's a nightmare," I shuddered.

She snatched my laptop again and this time closed it shut, "Listen to me bitch, you're getting married, even if it's not to the man of your dreams, the fact remains that you are getting married. Your chances of having another wedding are fifty-fifty, so why not just live this one to the fullest, enjoy the moments of your nightmare, you'll thank me later. Besides who knows, the wedding might get called off before that day but the memories of the time before the wedding is going to stick with you and one day, you'll be able to tell your kids the stories."

I sat back and let her words sink in, she has a point though. "So life coach, how do I enjoy my nightmare?" I faked a smile and she shook her head.

"First we're going to the tailor's shop to get myself measured again then, we're going to get you your dress, understand?" she stood up and set my laptop on the coffee table, then stretched her hand out for me to take.

"But I-" I stopped talking when she gave me a nasty look so I took her hand and let her pull me up. "Understood," I said and let Funke drag me out of the house.

Like she had said, the tailor re-measured her and we went to a bridal shop to look for a dress for myself. All this while, I hadn't gotten a dress, I just never found one that appealed to me. All the dresses I saw were beautiful but none of them gave me that feeling of satisfaction. Every day I'm reminded that the wedding is drawing closer but the plan is that if I can't get a dress by Christmas, then I'd have to draw up a dress and my tailor would have to sew it.

The first three bridal shops we  went to had nothing that I liked so as we sat inside a restaurant, having dinner, I decided to go online and actually shop for one. Most of the stores online had their shops in Lagos so if we found one I liked then we'd go to the shop.

"You know we wouldn't be able to go to the shop this night, it's already past seven," Funke pointed outside and I nodded.

"I know but we'll know where the shop is and know where to go in the morning." I said.

After eating on the way back home Andrew called me and I didn't care that Funke was there, we talked nonstop and even when we had gotten to my house, we were still talking.

I turned on my laptop and Funke sat beside me as we were both shopping for a dress while I was still on the phone with Andrew, Funke was doing most of the shopping, she'd show me a dress she thought I'd like and if I said no she'd go back to searching.

"But have you eaten?" I asked him.

"No, soon though," he said , his voice unable to hide how tired he was.

"You should eat and rest, you don't sound so good."

"Tell me about it," he scoffed. "As long as I can get to hold you then I'd be fine."

"When are you coming back?"

"I'm not sure, there are still a lot of things to get done here and my father isn't willing to let me go until most of them are done."

"Would you be coming home for Christmas?"

"Most likely not, the whole family might actually come here but I'll have to come after Christmas, if nothing goes well for us, at least I should be able to actually see you before you-" He paused and breathed in, "get married."

Before I could respond, Funke tapped me and I looked at the computer screen, ready to shake my head and reply Andrew but my words got stuck in my throat when I saw the dress Funke was showing me. As I looked at it, I knew that that was the dress, I could already imagine myself on it, it was beautiful.

I nodded at Funke and a grin broke out on her face.

"Babe?" Andrew's voice reminded me that I was actually speaking to him. "Are you there?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, Funke was just showing me something," I gasped when I didn't remember what I wanted to say to Andrew. "I'm sorry what did you say last?"

He sighed, "what was she showing you?"

"It's nothing, just forget about it, what did you say last?"

"Tell me what she was showing you, I want to know," he sounded demanding and that was getting me pissed.

I rolled my eyes, "It's nothing Andrew, just forget it."

"I'm not going to forget it Victoria, what was she showing you?" he sounded like he was going to explode any second.

I sighed heavily, "fine, if you want to know, she was showing me a dress."

"A wedding dress?" he sounded pissed and I wondered why.

"Yes, a wedding dress, I don't like the dress so, let's forget about it," I lied and Funke's eyes widened.

I shook my head at Funke and stood up from the couch, I rose a finger at her to tell her to wait before I waked into the kitchen and took a seat on a stool.

'You're lying Victoria," his voice said it all, he was pissed. "You're lying, you actually like the dress, but that isn't what's getting me angry right now. I'm angry because you're actually shopping for a wedding dress for a wedding that I'm against, and you know that I'm against it and yet you're still shopping for it while on the phone with me." His voice was getting higher with every word he spoke.

"Andrew," I sighed. "You're talking as if you're the only one that's against the wedding. We both know that I'm against the wedding too, what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that you actually want to marry this guy, you don't love me enough to fight for us that's why you can actually be shopping for a dress while talking to me."

"For goodness sake Andrew, you're blowing this whole thing up unnecessarily," Funke walked into the kitchen with a worried look on her face and I began to walk out of the kitchen but she held me back and forced me to sit back on the stool. "I don't want to Marry Miles, I want you and I love you, how else am I going to show it to you that'll make you believe that I do and that I'm fighting for us?"

"If you actually don't want to marry this guy, you wouldn't be shopping for a wedding dress, especially while talking to me," he sounded ridiculous and I scoffed.

"You know what?" I rubbed my forehead. "Maybe you should just eat and relax, we'll talk later because you are definitely not in your right state of mind right now."

"We're not going to talk about this later, we're going to talk about this now!"

"What do you want me to say? I've told you, I love you and  I don't want to marry Miles, what else do you want to hear?"

"That you'll wait for me and actually stop all these wedding preparations because I'm tired of hearing you say that you love me and you're still hanging out with Miles, still at a bridal shop, I'm tired of hearing all of it."

'You're ridiculous, you're sounding as if I'm not also tired of all these," I shook my head.

After a moment of silence I spoke again. "Maybe you and I just aren't meant to be because every time that we take one step forward, life makes us take two back and I'm tired. Maybe we should just call it quits, I'm done acting like everything's going to be alright when it isn't."

Funke held my hand and her eyes widened even further. I shook my head at her telling her to stop.

"Are you breaking up with me?" his voice was way calmer now.

"Yeah, it's not like we weren't already broken up before," I fought the tears threatening to spill from my eyes.

"You can't do this Victoria, it's only me remember?" I didn't want to imagine what he looked like at that moment because the way his voice was breaking was heart wrenching.

"Yes, it's only you, it'll always be you, don't worry, no one's taking my heart but you." I sniffled. "Life just isn't fair to both of us that's why we both have to wake up and stop dreaming, we're never going to work, we were never meant to."

'You can't say that Victoria, yo-"

"I love you Andrew, I always will."  I hung up, not waiting for a response from him.

I couldn't look Funke in the eye as I stood up from the stool and made my way upstairs. I tucked myself into bed and cried, cried till I had a headache, cried till I slept off.

***

Hey guys!  Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I started my semester exams last week and as of now I only have two papers left with enough time to write so updates should be more often now.

Do you think they are both being unnecessarily dramatic?

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